Anyways I wanted to update you all what has been going on, because you deserve to know. Only a few people out there like Jae Onasi, acdcfanbill, and Lynk Former have been keeping my secrets quiet.

Lucasforums is my home away from home, and my family so you deserve to know.

In the last year, I left GameStop. Got rid of most of my worldly possessions such as my overgrown CD collection, my overgrown Star Wars collection, my car, my condo, and almost all of my furniture. Had a heart attack. Yeah seriously had a heart attack and did not know until my doctor told me so. Went to get a hernia fixed, and found out I need a quadruple bypass....icky I know. I quit smoking, quit drinking, and joined Weight Watchers! I am currently on disability, due to a couple of conditions that I cannot begin to pronounce, and waiting on a few surgeries. I am a pretty tough guy, but it is still scary stuff because you never think this crap will happen to you. I know I am an old fart, but to quote Al Jourgensen of Ministry: "I'm not dead yet!"

Starting September 11, I go in for a sleep study so that will hopefully fix my sleep apnea. I personally believe, as well as some of my doctors, that the sleep apnea caused a lot of this crap I am currently going through! Then I plan to get the bypass after I get stronger. Then get this damn hernia fixed. Once all of that gets fixed, I am going back to school to pursue my second passion which is cooking. I have a culinary arts program all in place, and should finish up in just two semesters. I have a buddy who is going to get me a job as a cook on a cruise ship, so I will be leaving Joliet, and moving to Florida. I'm also hoping to do some live shows for my new album with my buddy and producer Denny from the band Coalmind.

In the meantime, I have played Borderlands 2 to death. I am currently playing Warhammer Dawn of War 2 on the PC., and Payday 2 on PS3. I have a PS4 on reserve, as well as Killzone, Battlefield 4, and Call of Duty Ghosts on reserve for that system. I have been working very hard on a solo music album which is being produced by a childhood friend of mine. It's basically a throwback to old 80's synth pop, and its going to kick ass! Should be on iTunes in the coming months. I also been doing some volunteer work for my favorite band Ministry such as setting up fan pages and forums and what not. Ministry will be putting out there last and final album this month.

Due to my failing health, I been trying to take it easy, and keep busy. I got a pretty decent laptop for Christmas in 2012, but by July, for some reason unknown the VGA chip went bad, and the screen wiped out. I have tried to fix this several times....with no success. Currently my laptop is plugged into my HDTV via HDMI cable. At least that way I can still play Warhammer!

Well sorry for keeping all this stuff from you guys, but I didn't want to get you worried for no reason, and I really didn't want to post a bunch of doom and gloom in a somewhat dead swamp....not at least until I had some form of good news.

Damn Grooves, that's a lot of stuff. I hope your surgeries go well and you can work out your health issues so you can move on with your cooking career. Make some blue milk for us.

As for myself, I've been chronically unemployed while pursuing a career in computer graphics. It's pretty much impossible to get into the industry without knowing the right people. So, for now I'm looking for a part-time job so I can try to get into freelancing. Eventually I hope to make it to California so I have networking opportunities.

Other than that, I got pretty big into My Little Pony, the great internet pox which I guess passed the ol' Swamp right on by. Out of that came this render I made which earned me a daily deviation on DeviantArt. I was also a part of the Mechwarrior: Living Legends team for awhile before it died. And that's pretty much all I've been up to the past few years. Doesn't sound like a whole lot when I put it that way...

You better post about your album when it's released. I definitely wanna hear some of that groovy 80's synth pop.

Some pretty good stuff. I listened to some VNV Nation for awhile so it's kind of familiar. I like "Saturn" a lot.

Good ear! I am a VNV Nation fan myself, so therein lies the influence! "Saturn" will probably be the super big single off of that album, we are all pleased how that one turned out! After the album launches I will tell you some of the hidden messages behind some of these songs.

Battle is a pure form of expression. It is heart and discipline, reduced to movement and motion. In battle, the words are swept away, giving way to actions-- mercy, sacrifice, anger, fear. These are pure moments of expression.

Wow. I'm sorry to hear about your misfortune. Please do get better. I wanna hear from you again, Grooves.

Yeah my grandfather was in the army in WW2. Healthy as could be. Had 3 heart attacks. First one came about somehow. I have my theories as to why he had his first (guinea pig for experimental drugs), but I will never get confirmation. Also, smoking was his vice, too. (Never met him, died before I was even born!) Second came about some years later because his first one was incorrectly diagnosed. It damaged his heart this time and he didn't have much left of it after surgery. Not too long after number two, the third one killed him. He was 45.

Now that I have a year before I hit the big 30, I'm looking into what's important in life. Selling off or getting rid of things I'd never imagined I'd part with. Vidya just isn't as big a priority in my life anymore either. GTA V has been released? I couldn't care less.

Career wise: I've been doing this and that. Learned some automotive mechanics. The basics so now I can do common level work. Can't seem to find any solid employment, though.
Still scavenging electronic parts, or fixing when some appliance doesn't require a part costing $800 or special equipment or whatnot. In fact I'm looking to go to vocational/tech trade school. Would like to be an electronics service tech with my own biz.
Not sure if I want to go to a tech school for industrial electronic technology, like ITT, DeVry, U of Phoenix or if I want to maybe pursue digital arts. Getting into 3D modeling and rendering. Feeling a bit artistic too.

Family: Some F*** nut crashed his bus sized RV into my folks' jeep. CA Laws for right of way on a highway, AND the evidence quite clearly supports my folks not being at fault. But somehow the CHP officer found my parents at fault and claimed they hit the other guy, plus played with semantics and took advantage of what my father said. Something fishy here, like the officer getting paid off. Looked up oaf boy in the RV, he's a multimillionaire government scientist. Strangely certain testimony that would otherwise contradict the officer's erroneous report is missing, conveniently. Because deference is given to officers of the law, they can pretty much slam the lid shut on the case without ever looking into the evidence no matter what. Meanwhile my folks were injured, albeit minorly. And the nicest vehicle they had was totaled.

Sitch:
Have a roommate right now who plays SWTOR, I'm piggybacking his account, so if you're a subbed member and you ever want to start a character on the Bergeren colony server, PM me here and I'll be more than happy to hang out with you.

I'm currently building a new PC. Gaming, rendering, 3D modeling, programming microchips, video production, similar stuff.

In the meantime, I hear you on having to get back into shape. Soda is one of the hardest vices to break yourself of, too. But I have additional motivation: Type 2 diabetes runs in the family. I'm showing some minor precursor symptoms warning me I'd better change my lifestyle if I don't want to contract it.

We'll murder them all, amid laughter and merriment...except for the few we take home to experiment!